鹿児島県におけるサワガニの体色変異とその分布

抄録

Specimens of the freshwater crab Geothelphusa dehaani (WHITE) were collected at 60 points of Kagoshima Prefecture to study the color variations appeared on the carapace, cheliped, and am-bulatory legs from May to September of 1989. The color variations were fundamentally distin-guished into three types : Blue Type, Red Type, and Brown Type. The color of young crabs were Brown Type and changed into Blue Type or Red Type when the crabs reached more than 14mm in carapace width. Red Type crabs were distributed to the north of Kamino River, Satsuma Peninsula and Kimotsuki River, Oosumi Peninsula, while Blue Type crabs were distributed to the south of these rivers. The predominant carotenoids were lutein, astaxanthin, astaxanthin diester, and astaxanthin monoester in the Red Type crabs, while in the Blue Type crabs they were β-carotene and lutein.